Shutter control for air-cooled engines



May 5, 1931. G. B.' uPToN ET Al.A

SHUTTER CONTROLFOR AIR COOLED ENGINES Filed May 12. 1928 Kimm XW y r 1%Tm f.. v/ m f/m f a?. l MN@ Patented May 5, i931 SHUTTER CONTROL FORAIB-COOLED ENGINES Application led May 12,

This invention relates to internal combustion engines, and hasparticular reference to engines of the air cooled type used onautomobiles, airplanes, or other vehicles.

In the past diiiculty has been experienced in maintaining air cooledengines at their optimum temperature at all times, andv it is the objectof the present invention to disclose a systemv of cooling which isinterrelated with the engine and outside atmosphere so as to give theproper amount of cooling at all times.

The idea of the present invention is to maintain this optimumtemperature for the metal parts of the power plant, particularly themanifold, regardless of outside temper; ature, speed or' loadconditions.

In driving an automobile through a hilly country it is known to be oneof the critibecomes over-cooled at the bottom of hills, after havingbeen used as a drag on the car to supplement the braking action. This issubstantially identically the same condition obtained in connection withthe first copper cooled aeroplane engine with which we eX- perimentedand which was iown for many hours in both hot and cold weather; that is,the engine over-cooled in a fast glide, an objectionable condition whichwas very noticeable, and which we have remedied in the presentinvention. j

lVhen the amount of cooling air is a function of speed alone, regardlessof load, then the engine is always over-cooled at high speed, light loadconditions. With the automobile engine at moderatespeeds it 'is'possible to obtain very Inearly full torque witlifonly a fraction oftotal angular movetion.' Hence it is not possible heietf'properlycontrol the amount of coolingiairliantlirottl oflimixture consumption.The *utilized condition occurring 1n ttheVv n governed by mixture flewrate isili@ i' cisms of engine performance that the enginev 'topassthrough the syste j Alnentof the throttle shaft romclosed posi- M ui 'ftrollecljbyfa th y j lientffleem mais.

dled *by linkage alone operated `bytlie1t i .l I' i. MP lffl,@het Wih CQolifl-I VThe rate of heat rejection to fthecooling Ss'ystem variessomewhat with thetim rate 1928. Serial No. 277,343.

sert in a linkage control some over-control dependent upon manifoldvacuum The manifold vacuum increases, at` any throttle position, withmixture iowrate, although at wide open throttle the rate of increase andtotal increase are both relatively small.y However, at partial throttlethe total maximum manifold vacuum can be quite high, and at high speedwith closed throttle it may be still higher. However, under this lastcondition the weight of charge entering the engine is relatively small,consequently the heat rejected to the cooling systemy is likewise small.v

With an uncontrolled cooling system the engine often is over-cooled.Hence if high manifold vacuum can be utilized to. throttle or partiallythrottle the supply ofcooling air going through the system, the enginewill not be over-cooled to so great an extent. It is recognized that atwide open throttle, high speed, the manifold ,vacuum maybe greater thanat wide open low speed., In general this condition occurs at highforward velocities of the car, atwhich time, 75 with a tight coolingsystem as disclosed, advantage may betakenlof the higher velocitypressure of the air at theventrance of the system to overcome suchthrottling byv the secondary control shutter as lmay be brought about bythe highermanifold vacuum.

To obtain propercontrolfofythe cooling effect We make use of twoshutters, `one subject to eontrolmby the outside temperaturer and whichgovernsthe admission of c ooling V85 air to the engine, andtheotherjsubject vto control by the engine vacuum" determining the "amountofth'is air which 'will allowfe The functie to @puede pera-aar .e

lele... f

ture. The second shutter will control what yproportion of that maximumair will be alowed to go through the system to adequately cool-but notovercool-the power plant.

The object of the invention is accomplished by placing at the front ofthe engine a shutter which is controlled by a heat sensitive element,which is subject to the outside or atmospheric temperature. This shutterwill control the maximum weight or amount of air handable in proportionto the outside temperature.

The air after passing through the shutter is caused to circulate aroundthe cylinders of the engine in a suitable and well known way, and bymeans of suitable battles is forced to travel toward the front of theengine where it is sucked by the fan and forced out of openings in thesides, or sides and top of the engine hood.

In the path of the indrawn air and preferably at the front of the enginejust to the rear of the fan there is positioned a second shutter whichcontrols the exit of the air. This shutter is interconnected with thethrottle of the engine by means of a suitable linkage, which linkage isin turn connected to an element controlled by thel induction system ofmanifold vacuum of the engine. This element is capable of expansion orcontraction in response to the suction and will accordingly determine'the position of a lever --of the connecting linkage. The condition ofthis element will determine the extent 'of opening of the exit shutter,the position of the latter therefore, being a direct function of thedegree of expansion or contraction of the element or of thesuction ofthe intake manifold. The throttle is operated as usual, and due to theinterrelated linkage the shutter is operated simultaneously with thethrottle.

In the drawings: Figure 1 shows a view through an air cooled engineapplied to an automotive vehicle with the hood and other parts insection and parts broken away.

Figure 2 is a side view of the front portion of the engine showing anopening for allowing egress of air from the engine.

Referring to Figure 1, the numeral 10 designates the hood of anautomotive vehicle, 12 the cowl, 14 the cowl pan, and 16 the instrumentboard.

At the front lower portion of the hood 10 there is positioned a shutter18 comprising a plurality of vanes or blades 20 ivoted to a common link22 at one end an to the frame 24 of the shutter at their other end. Thelink 22 has a pin 26 at one end which works in a slot 28 at the end ofan arm 30 attached to a heat sensitive element 32, secured by means of abracket 34 to any suitable` part of the engine. It will be noted thatthis heat sensitive element 32 is subject to the temperature of theoutside air, due to the fact that the hood 10 isV broken away in frontthereof. The shutter 18 will be d1- rectly controlled by the extent ofexpansion or contraction of the heatsensitive element 32 and when it isfully contracted, it will be evident that the shutter is completelyclosed, while at its full expansion the Vanes, 20 will be opened totheir fullest extent. Intermediate expansions of the member 32 willbring about intermediate positions of Vthe vanes. It istherefore, quiteobvious that the temperature of the 4outside air will directly controlthe amount of cooling air admitted lto the cylinders of the air cooledengine.

The path of the air through the shutter 18 and through the engine isshown by the arrows. The engine is provided with any suitable kind ofbaffle arrangement 36 for properly directing the air past the cylindersand toward the fan 38, preferably positioned at the front of the engine.lThe cylinders of the engine are shown at 40 and surroundingA eachcylinder is the housing 42 containing a plurality of fins (not shown) asis customary, to radiate the heat from the cylinder.

At the front of the engine and hood 10 and preferably at the rear of thefan 38 there is arranged a second shutter 44, the construction of whichis similar to the shutter 18. This shutter has a common link 46connecting all of the vanes or blades 2O and one end of which has a pin48 which operates in a slot 50 at one end of an' arm 52 of a bell cranklever 54, the opposite arm 56of which is pivoted to a linkI 58 connectedat its opposite end as at 60 to the arm 62 66, which extends through thefoot board I and Lterminates in a knob 68. By pulling or pushing on therod 68 the throttle valve 64 may be o erated in either direction.

The be crank lever is pivoted at 7 0 to an arm 72 formed on anexpansible and contractible member 74, preferably in the form of abellows, which is connected at 76 to the induction system 78 of theengine. The connection is preferabl made to the intake manifold 80, asshown 1n Figure 1.

The interior of the bellows 74 is subject to the suction of theinduction system or intake manifold, and it will, therefore, be obviousthat when the suction is high as for instance, at throttle-closedposition at high or low speeds, the bellows 74 will contract and movethe bell crank lever 54 upwardly. As the suction decreases, such as atfull throttle-open position, the suction will be relatively low andthere will be little contraction of the bellows 74. This will allow thebell crank lever 54 to assume its lowermost position. The position of`the bell crank lever 54 will therefore, be directly def pendent upon thesuction in the induction system of the engine. I

From the construction just described 1t will be evident that as the rod66 is moved to move the arm 62 of the throttle valve 64, it will at thesame time move the link 58 and cause the bell crank 54 to swing on itspivot 7 0 to thereby open or close the shutter. The extent of opening ofthe shutter will therefore, be dependent in the iirst place upon theextent of o ening of the throttle valve 64. The li 58 it will be seenfrom Figure 1, forms an angle with the arm 62 and the degree of swing onthe bell crank lever will depend upon the position ,of the arm 58 withreference to the arm 62. As the bellows 74 contracts and draws the bellcrank lever as a whole upwardly, it will cause the link 58 to assumemore and more a horizontal position, inasmuch as the arm 62 is nowstationary. The upward swing of the link 58 will cause the arm 56 of thebell crank to be moved toward the left, which will swing the second arm52 of the bell' crank 54 in an upward direction and cause a closing ofthe shutter 44. This condition will maintain. when the suction in theintake manifold is operating and ythe degree of movement of the bellcrank will depend directly upon the amount of suction. It is thereforeto be seen that the width of opening of the shutter 44 is dependent onthe degree of suction in the manifold.

The extent of opening of the shutter 44 is therefore dependent upon twoconditions:

First: The extent of movement of the throttle valve 64.

Second: The degree of suction in the induction system.

The amount of air admitted to the engine will therefore, be controlled:v

First: By the amount of air admitted by the shutter 18, which is subjectto control of the 4outside atmosphere.

Second: By the amount of air which is allowed to pass through theshutter 44.

And this latter condition is in turn governed by the aforementioned twoconditions. It will, therefore, 'be seen that we have a number ofcontrols to` give the proper amount of air to the engine and thereforedetermine our optimum temperature.

When the air is relatively cold, there will be a correspondingcontraction of the element 32, and a less amount of air will be admittedthrough the shutter 18. This is desirable for the reason that therelatively colder air will give a much quicker cooling of the cylinders40. As the outside air temperature 'rises the shutter will open andadmit a greater quantity of air in order that proper cooling may beeEected.

After the air is admitted it will be drawn by the fan toward the shutter44, and after the throttle of the engine is closed, which is the usualcondition when idling or when going down hills, the suction in theinduction system will be relatively high, which will contract thebellows 74 to substantially. its fullest extent and brin abouttheigreatest upward positionof t e bell crank 54. At this time the arm62 will also be in its extreme left hand position or the position ofclosing of the shutter 44. This position of the arm and bellows willbring about a substantially complete shutting of the shutter 44, onlysuiiicient air being allowed to pass through so that the engines doesnot over heat.

When driving uphill atfull throttle open position the throttle valve 64will be swung to be substantially in line with the intake pipe of themanifold or'will give an eXtreme right hand position for the arm 62, aosition corresponding to open position o the shutter 44. At fullthrottle open position the suction in the manifold and in the inductionsystem is considerably less than in the case of throttle closed positionand the degree of contraction of the bellows 74 will therefore beconsiderably less and bring about a relatively much lower `position ofthe bell crank 54. This lesser upward movement of the bell crank 54 willgive a relatively lower position to the pivot point between the arms 56and 58 and will cause the arm 58 to swing on a radius on the pivot 60.This will cause the arm 56 to be swung to the right and the arm 52 to beswung downwardly thereby producing a greater opening of the shutter 44.v

These movements of the bell crank 54 to move the shutter 44 will beallowed because of the lost motion connection between the arm 52 andthelink 46 caused by the pin and4 slot construction 48., 50.

Degrees of suction in the induction system intermediate the two extremeswill bring about a corresponding relative degree vof opening of theshutter 44. From an inspection of Figure 2, it will be seen thatsuitable openings, 82 are provided at both sides of the hood, whichopenings are to allow for the egress of the air. As many of theseopenings as desired may be used or if desired only one large opening ateither side may sufiice. It is also within the scope of the invention toprovide openin s in the top of the hood about the fan 38.

he. usual brake pedal is shown at 84, while 86 indicates the gear shiftlever for the transmission 88. Y

We claim:

1. In combination with an engine, heat sensitive means for controllingthe flow of air to the engine, and means connected with the controllingparts of the engine for controlling the iiow of air from the engine.

2. The combination of claim 1, said first named means including ashutter and a heat responsive element.

named means including a shutter and a heat responsive element subject tooutside or atmospheric temperature.

4. The combination of claim 1, said second named means includin ashutter and said controlling part includlng the throttle valve of thecarburetor.

5. The combination of claim 1, said engine having a manifold and saidsecond n amed means subject to control from the manifold.

v6. In combination with an internal combustion engine having a throttleassociated therewith, means for controlling the flow of air to theengine, and means interconnected with the throttle and engine inductionsystem for controlling the flow of air from the engine.

7. The combination of claim 6, said first named means comprising atemperature controlled shutter.

8. The combination of claim 6, said second named means including ashutter.

9. In combination with an internal combustion engine, means forcontrolling the iow of air from the engine including a shutter, athrottle, a controlling means interconnecting said throttle and shutter,and means interconnected with said controlling means for varying theextent of opening of the shutter. N

- 10. The combination of claim 9, said last named means including anelement operated from the induction system of the eng-ine.

11. The combination of claim 9, said controlling means including aplurality of levers interconnecting the throttle and shutter.

12. The combination of claim 9, said conl trolling means including abell crank lever.

13. The combination of claim 9, said con trolling means including a bellcrank lever and said last named means being connected to the bell cranklever.

14. The combination of claim 9, said last named means including a bellcrank lever having a lost motion connection with said shutter.

15. The combination of claim 9, said last named means including a leverhaving a lost motion connection with said shutter, and said last namedmeans being connected to said lever.

16. In combination with an automotive vehicle having an engine,controlled means for admitting air to said engine, controlled means forallowing eXit of the air from the engine and interconnected with acontrolling member of the engine, and means for operating thecontrolling member from a remote point.

17. The combination of claim 16, said first .named means comprising aheat sensitive element subject to outside or atmospheric temperature anda shutter. 3. The combination of claim 1, said first 18. The combinationof claim 16, said second named means including a shutter, a connectionbetween the shutter and the controlling member, and a member connectedto said connection and subject to control by the engine inductionsystem.

19. The combination of claim 16, said engine having a fan positioned infront of said second named means.

20. In combination with an air cooled internal combustion engine, ashutter for allowing access of air to said engine, a heat sensitiveelement subject to outside or atmospheric temperature connected to saidshutter to control the same, a second shutter to control the exit of airfrom the'v engine, a throttle associated with said engine, a linkageincluding a bell crank lever connecting said throttle and exit shutter,a lost motion connection between said bell crank and shutter, meanspivoted to said bell crank and Asubject to the induction system of theengine for controlling said exit shutter by causing movement of the bellcrank lever, and means for simultaneously operating said throttle andshutter.

21. In combination with an engine, means for controlling the How of airto the engine, heat sensitive means for controlling said first namedmeans, a throttle, and means interconnected with the throttle to controlthe air flow admitted by said rst named means.

22. In combination with an engine, a throttle, means for controlling theHow of air for cooling the engine, means controlled by the pressure inthe intake manifold for controlling the position of said means, andmeans interconnecting the throttle and said first named means to causethe operation of the latter simultaneously with the former.

23. In combination with an engine, a throttle, means for controlling theiiow of air for cooling the engine, means including a bell crank leverinterconnecting the throttle and said means whereby the latter isoperated simultaneously with the former, and expandible and contractiblemeans connected to the pivot of the bell crank lever to control theposition of the bell crank lever and of the first named means.

24. In combination with "an engine, a throttle, means for controllingthe iow of air for cooling the engine, means including a bell cranklever interconnecting the throttle and said means whereby the latter isoperated simultaneously with the former, and a bellows open to intakemanifold pressure and secured to the pivot of the bell crank lever tocontrol the position of the lever and of said first named means.

25. In combination with an engine, a throttle, a shutter for controllingthe flow of air for cooling the engine, a bellows open to intakemanifold pressure, a bell crank pivoted to said bellows to movetherewith and having its arms connected to said shutter and saidthrottle so as to cause the simultaneous operation of the shutter withthe throttle and subject to control by the bellows.

In testimony whereof we alx our signav tures. 1 GEORGE BURR UPTON..

ROLAND V. HUTCRINsoN.

